Association Leadership Competencies

Association leadership is leading to build the next generation of a strong, unified, and student-centered education association. Below are the skills that teacher leaders will hone in the association leadership track.

Competency Themes

Organizational Effectiveness: Leading with Vision

• Understands the association mission, vision, and values and uses them to guide his or her influence when working with colleagues and the community.

• Facilitates or coordinates the work of members in pursuit of the mission, vision, and values of the association.

• Inspires and guides a critical mass of members to invest themselves in support of the mission, vision, and values of the association, to pursue strategic goals through targeted actions, and to measure success through meaningful data about progress toward the desired vision.

• Energizes members to create and pursue transformative vision and values for the association, responding to and anticipating new challenges and greater achievements.

• Broadens the vision of the association, activating meaningful change and empowering both members and leaders to see beyond the current or traditional roles of the association in fostering teacher leadership.

Organizational Effectiveness: Leading with Skill

Emerging

Developing

Performing

Transforming

• Recognizes the need for leaders to exercise skillful stewardship of the association's vision and resources.

• Understands the need for members to grow from dues payers to passionate participants in the work of the association.

• Assists with tasks of conducting the association's business under the direction or mentorship of other leaders.

• Encourages others to participate in the work of the association.

• Conducts association business operations with skill, integrity, and effectiveness.

• Strengthens the capacity of the association through wise use of resources, increased membership, and involvement.

• Reinvents how the association does business in ways that allow it to achieve a broadened vision with even greater success.

• Expands the capacity of the association by identifying and engaging new partners, markets, and resource providers.

Organizing and Advocacy

Emerging

Developing

Performing

Transforming

• Recognizes the role of partnerships and their power as a tool to pursue desired outcomes for children, schools, and the teaching profession.

• Participates with fellow association members and coalitions of other organizations in implementing strategies to influence policymakers and decision makers to generate desired change.

• Utilizes strong relationships and compelling issues to build impactful networks (members, leaders, and coalitions within and across organizations) to generate significant changes across a broad range of issues that impact students, schools, and school employees.

• Acts as a key power broker whose influence is sought by policymakers and a range of other progressive-minded organizations and unions.

Building Capacity of Others

Emerging

Developing

Performing

Transforming

• Understands the range of skills and styles of leadership and communication that individuals may possess and is familiar with her or his own strengths and limitations.

• Collaborates in implementing professional growth activities to help colleagues develop and expand leadership skills.

• Develops and implements professional growth opportunities for members working to realize their potential, developing as educators and association leaders.

Learning Community and Workplace Culture

• Recognizes the important role of contracts and policies in either facilitating or interfering with creating, sustaining, and expanding positive environments for teaching and learning.

• Understands the landscape of major policy and contractual initiatives and uses research to identify and advocate for contract provisions and policy options that can have a positive impact on teaching and learning conditions.

• Utilizes various strategies (including interest-based problem solving) to guide the development and implementation of desirable changes.

• Leads efforts to develop new and innovative policies and contractual articles to enhance such areas as: